Equipment

Kenwood TS480SAT

The newest addition to the mobile shack, the Kenwood TS480SAT was bought secondhand from another local radio amateur. It’s capable of 100W and covers from 160m up to 6m. It has an internal tuner that – while not capable of tuning random pieces of wire – works nicely with the multi-band vertical HF antenna I use on the car. It also has two separate antenna inputs that can be used on all bands, which comes in handy while mobile.

Kenwood TM-D710A

Purchased brand new in September 2013, the Kenwood TM-D710 is a 50W VHF and UHF rig with APRS capabilities. I have it connected with an aftermarket GPS-710 unit from Green Light Labs and it beacons as VE7CXZ-1 while I’m in the car. It also has a built-in TNC, and can function as a cross-band repeater as well as a full APRS digipeater.

Yaesu FT897D

The 897D was my first HF rig and came with me to Canada from the UK. Like the Kenwood TS480SAT, it has a maximum power output of 100W, but as well as HF it also covers 6m, 2m and 70cm. When I’m operating on digimodes, the 897D is usually used, with the TS480SAT being used for SSB.

Yaesu FT-60E

The FT-60E is the European version of the FT-60, and is a 5-watt capable handheld covering 2m and 70cm. Being a European model, it originally only covered the smaller VHF and UHF bands used in ITU Region 1 (144-146MHz and 430-440MHz), however I modified it to transmit across the larger allocation here in Region 2.

Icom IC-T8E

Probably the oldest radio I own, the IC-T8E is also a handheld, but is a tri-bander, covering 6m (FM only) as well as the usual 2m and 70cm bands. Like the FT-60E, though, it has been modified to work on the larger ITU Region 2 allocations. Due to this, it is unofficially a quad-bander, as it now covers (with the right antenna) the 1.25m/220MHz band used in North America.